fliːs ʃɪə(ɹ) ʃiɹ ʃɪə(ɹ) ʃiɹ become deformed by forces tending to produce a shearing strain cut with shears shear hedges cut or cut through with shears shear the wool off the lamb shear the wool from shear sheep a large edge tool that cuts sheet metal by passing a blade through it (physics) a deformation of an object in which parallel planes remain parallel but are shifted in a direction parallel to themselves the shear changed the rectangle into a parallelogram